Digital CommunitiesIndustry Members

By
Robert Bell, John Jung, Louis Zacharilla:
Intelligent Communities are those which have - whether through crisis or foresight - come to understand the enormous challenges of the Broadband Economy, and have taken conscious steps to create an economy capable of prospering in it. They are not necessarily big cities or famous technology hubs. They are located in developing nations as well as industrialized ones, suburbs as well as cities, the hinterland as well as the coast.

Smart Grid, Smarter City

Albert
Einstein supposedly once wrote that "Insanity is doing the same thing
over and over again but expecting different results." Whether or not the Smartest Man in the World actually said it or Rita Mae Brown wrote it in 1983,
it is famous because we have all been there. Nothing could be more
human than to repeat a failing strategy because it feels so much more
comfortable than looking at a new set of facts.

When asked if
their local government has a written small business development plan,
84.5% of respondents said "no." How about a written business retention
plan? Seventy-three percent said "no." Does your jurisdiction have
special technology zones designed to encourage technology-related
industries and businesses to move there? Eighty percent did not. And
what are the two biggest barriers to local economic growth? The
availability of land for development and the cost of that land.

As I reported in a post on July 28,
the latest research in the United States shows that nearly all net job
growth since 1977 (practically the Stone Age) has been created by
start-ups in their first year of business. Other research stretches
that period of strong job creation to five years, but the point is the
same. Getting a Fortune 1000 company to locate a facility in your
community will make you a hero for a day. But by itself, it will not
ensure the prosperity of your economy.

What do startups
need? Being new and fragile, they need access to management expertise
and high-quality employees. They need credit and capital, and
connections with potential customers, strategic partners and investors.
The good news is that, if they survive and grow, retaining them is
easy: startups tend to stay where they were founded unless they cannot
get what they need there. Given the fact that technology in all its
forms is a part of nearly every process, service and product today, they
are very likely to be technology-related in some way. And while they
may eventually need land to construct that signature building that
signals their success, that's somewhere at the bottom of the priority
list.

This
mismatch between the needs of the most desirable employers in the
broadband economy, and the perceptions of people in economic
development, is breathtaking. I am also glad to say that there is
little sign of it in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA, where I spent two days last week. The municipally-owned Electric Plant Board
(EPB) of Chattanooga is deploying a fiber-to-the-premises network to
every home and business in their service area. The driver for the
project is the implementation of smart grid technology. It is EPB's
ambition to gather data and send instructions in real time to every
element of the distribution network, as well as to thermostats, hot
water heaters and other equipment on customer premises. The dirty
little secret of electric generation and distribution today is that the
network is run by guesswork, and maintains its reliability by massive
over-building of capacity to handle peak loads. EPB expects that full
implementation of smart-grid technology throughout their network will
let them reduce costs enough to justify the fiber deployment on that
basis alone, with the revenue from data, voice and video services adding
icing to the cake as well as fulfilling EPB's mandate to support the
city's economy.

I was invited to Chattanooga by the city's
political, administrative, nonprofit and business leaders, who want to
understand how to leverage this asset to accelerate the community's
economy and bridge its economic and social differences. This is a place
that was named the most polluted city in America in 1969. The
pollution was caused by metal foundries that subsequently went out of
business, leaving the economy on life support. From that low point, the
city has fought its way back. The rebuilding of the downtown and
riverfront, which restored civic faith and pride, also taught
Chattanooga's leaders how to collaborate. They have turned to nurturing
local arts and local entrepreneurship, and targeted their business
attraction efforts to wind turbine and other clean energy firms, on
which foundation they hope to build a competitive business cluster.

While
giving speeches and offering advice, I was pleased to see a place with
so many pieces of Intelligent Community development in place. And I was
thrilled by their understanding of the need to turn those pieces into a
functioning whole, an ecosystem in which broadband, knowledge work,
innovation and digital inclusion can reinforce each other and drive
inclusive prosperity for many years. Stay tuned to news from
Chattanooga, as the EPB shows us how to add intelligence to the grid and
the city does the same for its economy.

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About the Intelligent Community Forum
The Intelligent Community Forum is a think tank that studies the economic and social development of the 21st Century community. Whether in industrialized or developing nations, communities are challenged to create prosperity, stability and cultural meaning in a world where jobs, investment and knowledge increasingly depend on advances in communications. For the 21st Century community, connectivity is a double-edge sword: threatening established ways of life on the one hand, and offering powerful new tools to build prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economies on the other. ICF seeks to share the best practices of the world's Intelligent Communities in adapting to the demands of the Broadband Economy, in order to help communities everywhere find sustainable renewal and growth. More information can be found at www.intelligentcommunity.org.

Robert Bell
Robert Bell is co-founder of the Intelligent Community Forum, where he heads its research and content development activities. He is the author of ICF's pioneering study, Benchmarking the Intelligent Community, the annual Top Seven Intelligent Communities of the Year white papers and other research reports issued by the Forum, and of Broadband Economies: Creating the Community of the 21st Century. Mr. Bell has also authored articles in The Municipal Journal of Telecommunications Policy, IEDC Journal, Telecommunications, Asia-Pacific Satellite and Asian Communications; and has appeared in segments of ABC World News and The Discovery Channel. A frequent keynote speaker and moderator at municipal and telecom industry events, he has also led economic development missions and study tours to cities in Asia and the US.

John Jung
ICF co-founder John G. Jung originated the Intelligent Community concept and continues to serve as the Forum's leading visionary. Formerly President and CEO of the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance and Calgary Economic Development Authority, he is a registered professional urban planner, urban designer and economic developer. He leads regular international business missions to US, European, Asian, Indian and Australian cities, and originated the ICF Immersion Lab program. John is a regular speaker at universities and conferences and serves as an advisor to regional and national leaders on Intelligent Community development. The author of numerous articles in planning and economic development journals, he has received global and Toronto-based awards for his work in collaboration and strategic development and sits on numerous task forces and international advisory boards.

Louis Zacharilla
ICF co-founder Louis Zacharilla is the creator and presenter of the annual Smart21, Top Seven and Intelligent Community Awards and oversees ICF's media communications and development programs. He is a frequent keynote and motivational speaker and panelist, addressing audiences of tech, academic and community leaders around the world, and writes extensively for publications including American City & County, Continental Airline's in-flight magazine and Municipal World. His frequent appearances in the electronic media have included both television and radio in South Korea, China and Canada. He has served as an adjunct professor at Fordham University in New York and is a Guest Lecturer at Polytechnic University's Distinguished Speaker Series. He holds a Masters Degree from the University of Notre Dame.